For Immediate Release A group of over one hundred of the UK’s leading cancer doctors and researchers have written a letter to the Times newspaper opposing the Medical Innovation Bill, the so-called Saatchi Bill, currently going through the House of Lords. In the letter published today (13th November 2014) the oncologists speak of their dismay that the bill, proposed as…
The current, revised, re-drafted, tweaked, changed, updated and amended latest draft
As we’ve said before, the Medical Innovation Bill has already gone through numerous incarnations during its current and previous attempts to survive the scrutiny of both Houses. The Committee Stage of the Bill took place on 24 October. There were 39 amendments tabled and they were generally discussed in groups. The (nearly) four hours of debate can be watched here: The…
What the Lords Missed
Guest post by José Miola, Professor of Medical Law at the University of Leicester The House of Lords considered the amendments to the Medical Innovation Bill on Friday 24 October. Many of their Lordships’ suggested changes — which would have done much to limit the damage inherent in the Bill — were simply rejected by the government and Lord Saatchi. In this…
Protecting the Doctor-Patient Relationship
Re-blogged with permission from Protecting the Doctor-Patient Relationship by Nigel Poole QC This week the media has constantly repeated the claim that the Saatchi Bill “protect doctors from litigation” if they try new treatments for terminally ill patients. It is true that the Bill seeks to protect doctors from being sued in negligence. But the following questions might be asked: 1.…
Responsible Medical Innovation
Re-blogged with permission from Responsible Medical Innovation by Nigel Poole QC The Medical Innovation Bill will shortly be in Committee stage in the House of Lords. Lord Saatchi has tabled amendments to produce a consolidated Bill. The Bill’s purpose is to promote medical innovation. It targets clinical negligence law as being, in Lord Saatchi’s view, the obstacle to innovation. Clear evidence…
Saatchi Bill – widening its reach and turning full circle
Re-blogged with permission from Saatchi Bill – Widening its Reach and Turning Full Circle by Nigel Poole QC I once heard of a project which aimed to “turn around” the lives of people who had fallen on hard times and which had called itself “360 Degrees”, not realising that that would turn someone around until they were facing exactly the same…
Never say you’re wrong
PR means never having to say you’re wrong — Charles Prentiss, Absolute Power The PR campaign for the Medical Innovation Bill grinds on. Sir Michael Rawlins was on BBC Radio 4’s Sunday programme on 7th September, extolling what he felt were the virtues of the Saatchi Bill. As well as undermining his own argument by pointing out that: We use lots…
The (fourth?) draft of the Medical Innovation Bill
Drafts of the Medical Innovation Bill are strewn everywhere. Even before its latest incarnation, there had been several previous attempts by Lord Saatchi to get his Bill through both Houses; at one time, there were Bills simultaneously weaving their tortuous route through both the House of Commons and the House of Lords under a rarely used No. 2 bill procedure, used…
The new amendments – the Bill that eats itself
Guest post by José Miola, Professor of Medical Law at the University of Leicester The Medical Innovation Bill has now received more amendments by Lord Saatchi, which now makes this the fourth version of the Bill. The new amendments cover two principal issues: the process that the innovator has to go through in order for the decision to innovate to…
Time to call a halt
We welcome the publication today of a summary of the responses to the official Department of Health consultation on the Medical Innovation Bill (the so-called Saatchi Bill). Although this is only a summary of the responses rather than a full report analysis, it still clearly highlights major problems with the proposed legislation. The Saatchi campaign has attempted to push through this Bill without…